Sri Lanka bomb blast victims honoured

People in the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, have been paying their respects to C.V Gooneratne, the cabinet minister who was killed by a suicide bomber on Wednesday.

The coffin containing his body, together with that of his wife, who last night died of her injuries, was put on display ahead of a funeral tomorrow.

More than twenty other people were killed in the attack, which the authorities assume to be the work of Tamil Tiger separatists.

Seventeen people are now said to be in custody as the police continue their investigations.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service